Belmont police make arrests after Loudon NASCAR race

BELMONT — Police arrested two men on felony charges on town roads after Sunday’s NASCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in neighboring Loudon.

Marvin Bowman, 43, of Laconia, was charged with aggravated DWI, driving while a habitual offender, disobeying an officer and reckless conduct, according to police Lt. Richard Mann.

Mann said that as Belmont police were conducting traffic control at the Route 106-Route 140 intersection, they saw Bowman, who was wanted on a traffic complaint, driving a sedan.

“People called and reported his vehicle as being barely able to stay on the road,” Mann said. “He was seen at one point dragging traffic cones.”

At the intersection, police signaled Bowman to pull over, but he allegedly refused and sped away.

“Given that there were 30,000-40,000 cars coming north at the height of the race traffic, we weren’t about to send our officers on a high-speed chase,” Mann said.

Police searched the area and found Bowman’s vehicle on nearby Brown Hill Road.

“They found Mr. Bowman sitting in the passenger seat, but one of our officers was able to clearly identify him as the driver of the vehicle,” Mann said.

Bowman was released on cash bail pending an August court date.

At 6:48 p.m., police stopped a vehicle driven and owned by Robert Celata, 24, of Northfield, who was arrested initially for driving an unregistered car with a suspended driver’s license.

Celata's passenger, Jeremy Carter, 29, of Andover, was found to be in possession of drugs and a large amount of cash, and was also taken into custody on a charge of possession of a controlled drug with intent to distribute.

Celata and Carter were released pending August court dates.

Assisting town police was State Police Trooper Greg Deluca and his K9 partner, Tyson, Mann said.

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